


A Serene Adventure in the High School of Ash

by StreetRacer_Sam



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Dark Fantasy, F/M, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2019-10-07 18:56:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17371508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StreetRacer_Sam/pseuds/StreetRacer_Sam
Summary: Ever since he was small, Ash Ketchum aspired to be like his father. With his childhood friend and partner Pikachu, he dreamt to become the best in the world. What could have gone wrong? But fate had something else in store for him. His life was turned upside down and he never saw it coming, breaking down into a pit of agony, hatred and despair that nobody could save him from. Solitude, after all, was never an ideal, to begin with. A decade passed when she finally returned, looking forward to rekindling her almost aspiring friendship with Ash more than anything. With years of stories to tell and affection to share, Serena expected Ash to be delighted to see her but the world awaiting her was more twisted than she could comprehend. Plagued with nightmares she could not resonate with, she found herself questioning her own sanity. Her world changed in the blink of an eye and she never realised in what ways destiny had set her apart from the world.With their fates intertwined, Serena was bound to face turmoil and Ash ended up as a mystery no one could ever feasibly solve. Finding the answers would cost her more than what she had bargained for and unlikely interruptions would result in greater conflict than she could bear.





	1. Prologue

_"What in the world are you doing, Michael?_ _!"_

Slamming his foot on the gas as his one hand clutched the gear shaft and other turned the steering wheel, those were not words the raven-haired man Was expecting to hear as he saw the building burning behind him through the rear-view mirror.

 _"Michael? Michael!"_  the voice repeated in his ear, but the man paid it no heed. He shifted into next gear as he raced through the burning building.

No later his ears picked up the sound of engines roaring behind him and tyres screeching on the ground. He looked up in the rear-view mirror and saw several SUVs drifting around the corner and chasing after him.

"Don't you know when to give up?" Michael grumbled under his breath as he raced through the warehouse. The noise of debris falling continued to fall in his ear and he looked back up, only to be shot at from the behind.

The bullet barely missed Michael and the raven-haired man ducked down, screeching back at them, "This is one of your own, assholes!"

Several bullets responded to his words as they pierced through the window behind. Cursing under his breath, Michael shifted into a lower gear, his feet releasing the gas slowly as he approached a hard corner. Suddenly, he slammed his foot on the clutch and pulled the handbrake, his hands frantically moving the wheel in the opposite direction.

"Take this, dipshit!"

His foot kicked the gas as soon as he found himself on the ramp leading to the lower level of the warehouse and his eyes darted over to the rear-view mirror. One of the SUVs crashed on the wall, another running into it at a fast speed.

Michael chuckled only momentarily before his eyes spotted another SUV safely mirroring his moves and following him.

"Asshole," he murmured and focused forward.

As the upper floors began collapsing behind him, Michael shifted into another gear. The engine roared below him as he floored the gas again, racing through the long hallway. He saw a shutter closing in front of him and gritted his teeth.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon..." he said under his breath and shifted into another gear.

He was halfway through the long hallway when he heard his colleague's voice yelling and calling for him again. The collapsing rubble was nearing him faster every passing moment and the shutter was halfway down. Bullets once again pierced through the windshield until nothing was left of it. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to make it, he shifted back into a lower gear before drifting through the pillars and towards the wall, his hands rotating the wheel frantically while he tried not to scratch the car against the wall.

Pressing the clutch again, he shifted into an upper gear and slammed the throttle, driving along the wall. He saw a small ramp in front of him, right before a giant window panel. He shifted the gears up again before slamming the race and pushed himself back in the seat.

_"Goddamnit, Michael, will you answer for once?_ _!"_

"Just shut up, Wilson!" Michael yelled, ascending on the ramp and ramming through the glass. "Just shut the fuck— _up!"_

The glass shattered as Michael yelled louder, his heart racing upon realising how high he was in the air. Just as he prepared himself for the painful impact from the crash, the warehouse behind him exploded with a loud bang and pushed the car forward.

The car landed on the very edge of the roof of what appeared to be a parking area. Michael turned the wheel around to control the car but found it spiralling out of control. The tires screeched on the ground as the car drifted on the roof. Sensing the decrease in speed, Michael pulled the handbrake, hoping to pull it back in the control but the car leaned on to one side, almost flipping around before leaning back straight on the ground.

When Michael looked up, he saw the same SUV crashing out of the panel, flames ablaze inside it before it dived down. He barely heard it crashing before another explosion rung in his ears.

Stepping out of the car, Michael rushed to the edge. His chest continued to heave in and out, sweat dripping down from his forehead to chin as he stared below. The flames ablaze reflected in his eyes as he glanced at the vehicle burning below him, a hand coming out of the window.

_"...Mi_ _—c_ _an you he—Michael?"_

"Yeah." Michael breathed sharply, placing one hand on his waist and another on the earpiece. "Yeah, I can hear you."

_"What are you doing?"_

"What does it look like I'm doing?!" Michael snapped back. "A whole bunch of angry mobs chasing you in fucking SUVs in a burning warehouse that's about to collapse on you any moment—what do you  _think_  I'm doing?!"

 _"Angry mobs in fuc—what are you even talking about?"_  Michael opened his mouth to speak but was beaten by his colleague.  _"Wait—did you screw up?"_

"Don't blame it on me!" Michael argued, turning around and walking back to his car. "And for the record, I found it. Just didn't expect them to find me so soo—"

His voice was cut off briefly when his ears picked up the sound of chopper cutting through the air and his eyes darted in its direction. His mouth opened agape and eyes widened upon the sight of a military helicopter heading his way.

_"Holy shit, Michael, do you see it?"_

"Yeah—" He sucked in air, gulping hard. "And it's coming my way."

_"It's wha—Michael, get the hell out of there!"_

"I-I am!" Michael said, entering the car and shutting the door behind. He shifted into the first gear, and the engine roared under him as he drifted around and headed towards the exit—closer to the incoming danger.

"You gotta help me, Wilson!"

 _"I-I_ have _a plan!"_  Wilson announced in a hesitant and frantic voice.  _"But you need to go around it. Meet me at the junction beyond the junkyard."_

"Are you kidding me right now? That chopper is on my ass already!"

 _"Just do as I say, Michael!"_  Wilson exclaimed, and Michael heard a familiar roar of an engine on the other end of the earpiece.  _"Meet me at the junction, I have my men prepared."_

"Your men?"

_"Just come over here in one piece and we will handle the rest."_

"Fuck you, Wilson—" Michael gritted his teeth as he glanced up in the direction of the chopper. It didn't seem to have caught him so far but at this rate, he knew it wouldn't be too long before he would be spotted.

"If I die, Wilson, I swear I will come back to life and take you with me to my grave."

_"Then try to stay alive."_

Michael shifted into another gear and pressed the gas harder; the scratched and dust-covered green chassis was shimmering slightly under the street lights as it raced towards the entrance of a large junkyard right in front of him.

* * *

 

Clouds thundered in the sky as the heavy downpour continued in its frenzy rage. The sound of the raindrops scattering on the glass and rippling down the frame was melodic in its own right, but the concerns of the man in the room laid elsewhere. His attention turned towards the television screen when he heard the news once again, his eyes furrowing with anxiety.

 _They should have been here by now,_ he couldn't help but think.  _If they managed to escape that then they should have been here by now..._

His mind didn't stop wandering in the direction he so hated. His eyes kept going back at the screen as he witnessed the military helicopter blowing into dust for the umpteenth time. There was a brief flash, a glowing, purple beam of energy was visible at the corner of the screen— _Hyper Beam._  He knew what it was, but he didn't know who it was. What worried him more, though, was the fact that he still didn't know who did it, or rather, why they did it.

As his mind continued to wander, a sudden sound of a door slamming open thundered in his ears. His eyes raised abruptly and he moved in its direction, and right in time to see a young, brown-haired woman rushing towards the entrance.

"Michael—"

"Where's Professor?" The woman was cut short by a raven-haired man right in time as the old man came in his view. "Professor Oak!" Upon noticing the old man, Michael hurried to him, the blond on his heels.

"Michael, Wilson," the old man spoke, relief evident in his voice. "You two are safe."

"More importantly," Michael cut him short. He hesitated for a moment and looked back at Wilson. The blond sighed and continued for him.

"The relic has been taken," he said.

Professor Oak took a moment to process the information before his eyes narrowed with concern. "That's a problem." He turned around and walked back into the laboratory, the men following him. "I have been trying to decrypt these runes for a while now and the least I have learned so far is that there is more than one relic—it's...it's some kind of tablet or maybe a map. I don't know for sure yet."

"And they don't know it yet?" Michael inquired.

"It appears so," Wilson answered. When everyone gave him a quizzical look, he continued, "I mean think about it. They used everything they have just to make sure they get their hands on yours—" Wilson looked at Michael "—and they deduced its existence based on its other half they have. If they are this desperate then either they don't know the full story yet or they are dumber than we thought."

"I'd go for the latter."

"Arguable, but not completely inaccurate."

"In any case, we have lost our only lead," Professor Oak interrupted the two who turned back to look at him.

"Well, the chopper on my ass was blown to dust so it's safe to assume at least they don't have it either," Michael said.

The old man looked up at Michael, but his eyes spotted the brown-haired woman standing at the door behind him, her hand on her chest and eyes filled with worry as she overheard their conversation. Before he could even let out his voice, she was joined by another woman.

"Delia, what happened? I heard the commotion and—" The woman followed Delia's gaze and saw the two men. Her shoulders relaxed but her eyes panicked at their appearance. "W-What happened?"

"Oh, this is nothing," Wilson said, brushing off her concern. "Michael, on the other hand though—" He glanced at the raven-haired man from the corner of his eyes before turning to Delia "—make sure to take a look at him later. I'm surprised he's even alive at all..."

"W-What did you two do?" the brunette almost screamed, panic evident in her broken voice.

For Michael, though, her voice seemed to fade in thin air—Professor Oak realised as a breeze sprinkled on his face. He glanced away from them, towards the giant glass door leading to the backyard. A gush of air swooshed in, swaying the curtains wildly, and was it then he noticed that the door was open. His eyes squinted and he couldn't help but ask Professor Oak, "Hey Professor, by any chance, is Daisy still outside?"

"She is on a trip with her father. She shouldn't be back for a few days at the very least...I think." Professor Oak wore a quizzical expression as he pondered over the thought, but he brushed aside his temporary concern and looked back at the raven-haired man. "Why...is something the matter?"

Michael was visibly concerned, his eyes furrowing further. Professor Oak tried to read the mind of the raven-haired man, but the most he could do was realise that something was bothering him, as an apprehensive feeling spread in the air around them.

Professor Oak felt the hair on his skin standing up when he realised Michael had sensed something. He tried to keep his cool and approach him when a blustering sound suddenly echoed in the house. His mind went numb, his eyes widened, and a nerve-wracking chill rushed up to his spine as he watched Michael move.

Michael rushed out of the room, towards the source of the noise. Impulsively, he held onto whatever came his way and barged into the room, towards the source of the voice, unannounced, and equally unprepared. Wilson rushed after him and so did Professor Oak, but by the time they made it to the room next door, an unexpected sighted awaited them.

Michael was crashed onto a table, groaning painfully. He glanced back at the culprit, Professor Oak following his gaze, but his eyes widened upon noticing an armour-clad hooded man approaching Michael, a sheath in his hand. The raven-haired man leaned aside in time to dodge the incoming sheathed sword but was elbowed in the guts before he could escape. Groaning, he looked up, at the sheath coming his way. Briefly, he considered dodging but moved forward at the very end, grabbing the sheath instead. The next thing he knew he was wrestling the armed man for the sheath, rolling on the floor in the cramped room.

Michael struggled violently, thrashing back and forth until the man let go of the sword. Michael barely caught his breath when the man punched him in the face and pressed sword onto him. By the time Michael gained his sensed back, he realised that he had already been subdued. Though the sword was still in his hand, the sheath was opened and the blade was pointed to his neck.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you."

A familiar voice rang in the air. Professor Oak followed the voice and noticed Wilson standing behind the two, a gun aimed at the hooded man and one hand motioning the professor to stand back. The man seemingly stiffened up, his eyes narrowing. He glanced back hesitantly, or maybe it was caution, but when his eyes spotted Professor Oak behind the blond, his shoulders loosened and eyes beamed up.

"Samuel Oak?" the man murmured in a low voice, earning quizzical glance from the old man, who nodded back, albeit hesitantly.

"That would be me, yes."

The man continued to look at him, observing him, before he decided to let Michael go. He stood back up and turned to face Professor Oak; all the while, Wilson kept the gun pointed at the man. "Pardon my intrusion," he began, bowing his head to the old man. "My name is Ippei. I was told to deliver this to you." The man hung the sword on his back and reached out for a small, rugged bag hanging on his waist, all the while ignoring the gun pointed at him.

Professor Oak glanced at Michael who had finally gotten up to his feet. When Michael looked at him, Professor Oak nodded. He turned to Ippei and took the bag in a quick motion. Sniffing and slightly rubbing his left cheek, he walked to the professor and handed the bag to Professor Oak.

"You are Michael, I presume?" Ippei spoke. Michael glanced back at him, surprised but still annoyed. Ippei took his silence as his approval and bowed apologetically to him. "I apologise for assaulting you but we weren't expecting either of you two here—"

"Two?" Wilson interrupted.

"Yes." Ippei nodded. "That includes you."

Wilson's gaze softened but his eyes remained sharp. He clicked the gun, earning a terrified gasp from Professor Oak, before asking, "And who  _is_  we?"

"Saizo, mon comrade," Ippei responded. "He's outside, watching guard in case someone were to follow us."

Wilson did not appear convinced right away, but a sense of loss was evident on his face. He sighed to himself before glancing at Professor Oak from the corner of his eyes. The old man understood the gaze and opened to bag quickly, but as soon as he looked inside, his eyes widened and a gasp escaped his throat. "Impossible..." The old man looked up, somewhat astonished as he glanced at Ippei. "H-How did you get this? Where did you get it?"

"What is it, Professor?" Michael interrupted. He took the bag from Professor Oak and looked inside as well, his eyes widening. Wilson questioned him while keeping his gun straight at still unfazed Ippei, and the raven-haired man responded in a low voice, "The relic..."

"The what—?"

"I-It's the relic that I lost!" Michael interrupted, astonished.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Wilson murmured under his breath as he hurried to Michael and looked at the relic himself, the very same they were supposed to bring back themselves.

"So it was you." Professor Oak glanced up at Ippei, eyeing him carefully. For a brief moment, the familiar scene of the chopper blowing in the sky flashed in his eyes and he came to a concrete conclusion. "You saved them."

"No. It was Saizo who saved them. I merely secured the relic," Ippei spoke, taking the hood off his head. His black hair tied in ponytail ruffled as he shook his head and glanced back at the professor. "We were tasked to assist the resistance but our only lead was you, professor—" Ippei turned to look at Michael and Wilson. "—and your names."

"So you saved my ass, huh," Michael murmured under his breath and crossed his arms. "And twice it seems. What a pain." He sighed, waving his hand off in a visible disappointment before walking out of the room.

Delia, who was standing behind the men with Grace, walked up to him, visibly concerned. When she voiced her concern, Michael sighed, forcing a small smile. "I'm fine..."

"Look after kids, honey," Wilson told the brunette standing behind Delia. Grace nodded hesitantly before both women left. Wilson eyed them one final time before turning back to look at Ippei. Handing the gun to Michael, he murmured in his direction, "Follow us."

* * *

 

The sound of raindrops chattering on the window filled the air as the two children occupying the quiet room continued to indulge themselves in their shenanigans. A young raven-haired boy continued to click a button on a handheld electronic device, a list rolling on the screen. Images of several Pokémon flashed in their eyes and while the raven-haired boy had a smug look on his face, the honey-haired girl sitting next to him had a look of astonishment as she peeked into it.

"Do you see this? There are so many Pokémon here!" the boy spoke. "You know what that means, right? My dad is the best!" He puffed his chest proudly at those words.

The honey-haired girl clenched her hands at his loud voice, letting out a squeaking sound. The boy looked at her, observing her for a moment before a grin spread across his face. "Do you wanna see?"

The boy offered the device to the young girl. Her eyes lit up with astonishment and she glanced up at him, asking in a small, timid voice, "C-Can I?"

The boy responded with a big, enthusiastic nod and handed the device to the girl. She immediately started scrolling through it, her eyes widening in surprise at the number of Pokémon visible on it. "Amazing..."

"Isn't it?" She almost jumped when she heard him right next to her ear, now realising that he was behind her, looking up her shoulder. "My dad has run into a lot of cool Pokémon and all of them are saved in this Pokédex!" When the honey-haired girl looked up at him, he stood up to his feet and announced, "I wanna be just like my dad and become a great Pokémon Trainer one day!"

"I'm sure you can do it, Ash..." the honey-haired girl smiled as she spoke in a small voice.

"That's right!" the boy proclaimed. He glanced down at the girl for a brief moment before lunging in her direction. She was startled when he suddenly appeared in front of her, his hands firmly clasping hers. "How about we both go on a journey together one day?"

"E-Eh...?" The girl flushed brightly, his sudden confession bewildering her. She tried to voice her words but could only stammer out incoherently. In the end, she couldn't even properly tell him a yes or no.

"C'mon, Serena!" Ash sounded like he was whining. "It'll be fun! I promise!"

The girl stifled timidly, nervous to her core. With a blush spreading across her cheeks she could barely even look into his eyes. And luck seemed to be on her side at that moment because she was saved by a loud voice—a familiar voice yelling from downstairs.

Ash's persistence seemingly vanished and a quizzical look came over his features. "Did you hear that?" he asked, and when the honey-haired girl gave a small nod, he bubbled with excitement. "Let's check it out!"

Serena did not get to have a say in the situation nonetheless as Ash quickly dragged her along with him. The two rushed out of the room and down the stairs, and as they did so, Serena caught a familiar voice calling after them. She looked back only to see Ash's mother walking after them, somewhat worried, but all she could do was watch the woman as she walked after Ash, her ears picking up a different sound. The possibility seemed minimal but she felt like it was their fathers yelling at each other.

"Don't be reckless, Michael!" Wilson asserted, yet his voice appeared somewhat calm. "At least think it through—"

_"Get the fuck away from me!"_

That was all the two could hear before an explosion like sound rang in the air. Ash hurried to the room and they entered right in time to witness the two men pulling a stone from each side with a concrete grip as the stone itself shone brightly.

"Whoa! What is that? What are you doing dad?"

Ash let go of Serena's hand and rushed inside without a second thought, towards his father and leaving Serena behind. The girl became perplexed but, in the end, her curiosity won over and she approached her father, holding onto him timidly.

"A-Ash?" Michael's frantic voice called out loudly when the young boy approached him, holding onto his pants, looking up at him brightly.

"What are you and uncle Wilson doing, dad?" the boy inquired, completely oblivious to the painful expression on the raven-haired man's face. And yet Michael responded, but not in the most friendly way he had anticipated.

"G-Get the hell out of here, Ash!" he screamed before his hand slipped from the relic. He fell on the floor and immediately held his head tightly, writhing and rolling on the floor. He breathed heavily, his chest heaving in and out. His eyes were sealed shut and he gritted his teeth. Everything happened in the blink of an eye before Ash could even understand anything. One moment, the man was seemingly crying blood and the next moment, all his movements ceased to exist. He laid there on the floor, breathing sharply as he stared up at the ceiling, his eyes tearful and sweat building upon his forehead.

Amidst the calm after the chaos, a small, disappointed voice rang in the air. "What did you do, Michael..."

Ash looked at his father, into his eyes where an eminent fear resided. Michael placed his hand on his head and breathed in shakily. With support from his other hand, he managed to get back up in a sitting position. He looked over at the other side and observed Wilson doing the same, however, the blond appeared calmer as if his sense of reasoning still remained intact. Briefly, he caught the eyes of the honey-haired girl sitting next to his father before finally averting his gaze.

"Ash..." A feminine voice called out, a motherly concern evident in it. The boy turned around to find his mother entering the room. "What are you doing here? I told you not to—" But she paused when she sensed the eerie air in the room. "What happened?"

"D-Dad was just screaming...and yelling," Ash spoke sincerely, a hint of fear in his voice. When Delia looked into his eyes, he averted his gaze to the floor.

In the silence, a hand squeezed his shoulder firmly and Ash was startled to his core. He looked up and saw his father looking down at him. Michael gave him a sincere smile and spoke, "Go back to your room, Ash. Wilson and I need to talk about something..." He paused, then added. "And take Serena with you."

"B-But—" He tried to argue but Michael shushed him. He wrapped his arm around the young boy and pulled him into a warm embrace, his one hand holding him and another running through his messy hair.

Ash did not complain but simply sat there in silence. He was very close to his father but never once did he hold him like this, out of the blue. His nerves tingled and he breathed in sharply, feeling a sense of fear dwelling inside him.

"Professor, will you look after him for a while?"

Michael's voice suddenly rang in his ears and a shiver rushed up to his spine. He trusted his father. He had never questioned him before. But, at that moment, he felt ambiguous, like his father had used those words to hide something. He tried to reason with himself, that that could not be the case but, in the end, his curiosity and fear won over. He couldn't help but ask in a timid voice, "Are you going somewhere...?"

Michael's hand stopped abruptly and silence filled the room. Ash finally gathered enough courage to pull himself back and look up at his father, who stared at him blankly, his mouth opened agape. He appeared struggling, looking for right words to respond with, but no matter how hard he tried, speaking the truth was too hard and painful for him.

"Yeah..." Michael murmured in a low voice. "Your mom and I—both of us need to go somewhere for a while. Do you...Do you mind?"

Ash shook his head but his eyes asked for more. The ambiguity in his voice hadn't left, after all, but the young Ash Ketchum couldn't realise how indefinite that was. To him, a while barely meant a small time. But yet as Ash watched in his father's eyes that night, pain, fear and dissolution so crystal clear within, he didn't realise how those words were meant to change his life forever—turn it upside down in ways he could never anticipate. After all, how a seven-year-old kid could have anticipated a tragedy that was about strike his home?

 


	2. Chapter 1

Working overnight wasn't an ideal path towards a consistent and successful high school life. Serena learned it the hard way when she found herself sitting on her study table, glaring at the books that gave her an innocent glance.

With the titles varying from Physics of Flying Pokémon and Biology of Water Pokémon to the Ancient Pokémon, the Tales of Legendary Pokémon and even the History of Kalos, she was on the verge of giving up on all these assignments as she pondered over just how much undone work was lying in wait for her ahead that night.

"And to make things worse I have to submit most of these tomorrow..." the honey-haired girl whined, her arms falling wide on the table as she placed her head at the edge. "Just why didn't I finish them when I had the time?"

"Fenne—?" the fox Pokémon cried softly, tilting her head as she watched her trainer whining in annoyance. When Serena looked up at her, Fennekin attempted to cheer her with a happy smile. "Fenne-kin!"

Serena giggled, running her hand behind the fox Pokémon's ears.

"Thanks a lot, really—" Serena sat up, shuffling herself down in the chair as she stretched her arms wide, a small moan escaping her lips. "But I will have to finish it tonight somehow or I will be dead tomorrow."

Fennekin moaned with a stern expression, reminding her trainer of the cause of her predicament. Serena seemed to realize her starter's thoughts and averted her gaze. She had always procrastinated all of this work before without any care despite how much Fennekin tried to tell her to do otherwise. She had almost always ignored her starter. Not that she never worked on them at all, but she would often end up doing something else midway and never get back to it until the next day.

Serena sighed. Protesting wouldn't get her anywhere, she knew it. She grimaced and fell silent, heaving a long breath in as she picked up one of the books and opened it.

"Tonight, I won't deter," she told herself in a strict tone and reached out for her laptop. She opened it, woke it up from the sleep mode and after waiting for a moment, found her unfinished work glaring at her in the dark room.

Serena grumbled under her breath as she glared back at the screen. She completely disregarded the darkness of the room under the light from the fluorescent table lamp, keeping her eyes fixed on the screen as her fingers worked on the keyboard.

Fennekin continued to glance at her for a couple of minutes and once she was convinced that Serena was completely focused on her task, she hopped down from the table to the bed nearby. She sighed in content, curling her fluffy tail around her as she made herself home.

Silence fell in the room no sooner, only the sound of Serena's fingers working on the keyboard and the breeze entering through the wide-open window remained abundant. A low sound of the phone ringing filled the quiet air of her room, followed by the sound of footsteps. Serena heard slight murmuring coming from the downstairs—she expected it to be one of her mother's old colleagues from her days as a Rhyhorn Racer. Or perhaps her father. She could care less about that, however.

Amidst her work, her Xtransceiver buzzed aloud, vibrating on the table. Serena glanced at it and saw the name of a familiar brunette flashing on the screen. She almost reached out to it, only to stop midway.

"No-no!" She shook her head and turned back to look at the screen. "I can't talk to them right now. I'm almost done with this one..." she murmured to herself.

The ringing, however, continued, causing abrupt disturbance to Serena. Finding herself unable to concentrate, she finally reached out for the ringing device, but it fell silent the moment she took it. She glanced at the name, feeling tempted to call back as her fingers trembled over the screen but the moment she glanced up at the screen of the laptop, the pressure returned and subdued her. She sighed and turned off her Xtransceiver, her hands once again running over the keyboard as she indulged herself in the work.

However, her hands stopped moving on the very last page, her eyes lowering and shoulder sulking down as she glanced at the screen. "...what was it supposed to be again?"

Serena wondered, brainstorming for the content that would mark an end to one of her assignments but could think of nothing.

"I read it in a book, right?" she whispered to herself and immediately got up. Her chair screeched on the floor and Fennekin opened her eye, finding the honey-haired girl rushing to the bookshelf nearby. "Now where is it?"

Serena began running her fingers on several books, most of them in the upper deck were either fashion magazines or magazines on Flying Trainers. She did not pay it any heed and continued to look further but could not find the title she was looking for.

"Where did it go now?" she groaned, moving down the shelf but all her attempts were in vain. The title seemed to have vanished from the shelf. She frantically opened drawers at the bottom of the shelf, her hands fumbling through everything that was placed inside.

She threw aside every magazine that came her way, eventually grabbing something big in her hand. She pulled it out, hoping for it to be the book she was looking for but was met with disappointment when she realised it wasn't. Instead, it appeared like an album with several thick layers of dust covering it.

"Is it...?" she found herself mumbling, her curiosity quipping in. She shut the drawer back close and walked back with the album in her hand.

Fennekin opened her eyes when she felt Serena sitting down beside her on the bed. She blew the dust off the album and sat it down in her lap.

"Fenne-kin?" the fox Pokémon cried at her direction and the honey-haired girl glanced down at her.

"I found an old album, Fennekin," Serena explained, glancing back at the album in her lap. At those words, Fennekin acquired a stern look as she called after her trainer, telling her to go back to her work.

"Oh it'll be fine, Fennekin, it's just an album!" Serena argued. "We'll be through it in no time, I swear!"

"Fenne—" the fox Pokémon huffed in negation, showing her disapproval. Serena, however, chose to ignore it.

"I wonder what it was doing down there..." Serena murmured as she began opening the album.

Fennekin, despite not approving her trainer's actions, was curious enough to look at it, too. She moved next to her trainer and glanced down at her lap, letting out a surprised gasp when she saw the photo of a Serena wearing a pink tracksuit.

"Fenne-kin?"

The fox Pokémon looked up at her trainer, her eyes glimmering with astonishment. Serena couldn't help but giggle, scratching Fennekin behind her ears.

"Yeah, this is me," she said. "I was young back then, and really shy, too," she added as she observed her younger self flustering in the photo. When Fennekin chipped in, telling her how nothing had changed even now, Serena couldn't help but flushed red.

"T-That's not true!" Her face could have turned red was she in front of someone else. Fennekin still found herself giggling delightfully at her trainer's reaction.

"Why you have to be like that..." Serena murmured, glancing away from the fox Pokémon to the album sitting in her lap. With her cheeks flustered and puffed up in a small pout, she moved on.

With her hands turning pages every so often, she continued to glance at the images that came forth. Her whole childhood glimmering with innocence was safely captured in this album-from her first birthday to her first time trying to ride a Rhyhorn, and a lot more. She couldn't help but reminiscence the past, sighing every so often at the memories.

Eventually, she found herself on a section filled with photos she thought she had long forgotten. She breathed in sharply and held the album in her hands as she fell back down on the bed. Fennekin observed the change in the air around her trainer and approached her, but Serena unconsciously brushed off her attempts and turned around, placing the album on the bed and glancing down at it.

Her sweet voice filled the air as she quietly hummed, placing her hand under her chin and moving her legs back and forth in the air. Her face glimmered with delight and lips curved into a smile.

Fennekin once again approached her trainer, this time from a side and glanced down at the album. She saw a sheepish young Serena, wearing a sundress, wandering in a forest. The fox Pokémon did not recognise it—neither the place nor the memory. She had never seen it before.

"Fenne-kin?" she voiced her curiosity, looking up at her trainer.

"Remember when I told you about a summer camp I attended nearly ten years ago?" Serena glanced down at the fox Pokémon. "These photos are from that camp..."

The fox Pokémon glanced back down at the photos again. Now that she thought about it, the images resembled the details that her trainer had familiarised her with. She knew her trainer was a really shy person from a very young age, but this girl glancing at the camera with a sheepish look was beauty in her own right. The more she thought about it, her eyes grew wider and glimmered with amazement.

"Fenne-kin!" the fox Pokémon voiced her opinion.

Serena giggled and rubbed her starter's head. "Thank you."

Fennekin moaned delightfully as her trainer rubbed her with affection, but her expression drip into oblivion when her eyes caught something. A young honey-haired girl with a straw hat on her head was rubbing her teary eyes while glancing at a young raven-haired boy. There was an evident fear in her eyes while the boy was beaming brightly at her.

"Fenne-kin?" the fox Pokémon inquired, pointing down at the boy with her paw as she looked up at her trainer.

Serena glanced down at the photo that Fennekin was pointing at and her gaze become solemn; her mouth opened agape slightly as her shoulder sulked down. Serena sighed in contemplation as she flopped down to her side on the bed. She grabbed a pillow and clenched it tightly against her chest.

Fennekin could only watch as her trainer shut her eyes tightly, her legs swinging back and forth wildly. Fennekin walked to her trainer and nuzzled against her neck. She noticed her trainer relaxing a bit and sighed longingly, a small moan escaping her lips.

"It's..." Her voice muffled in the pillow as she spoke but couldn't bring herself to continue anymore.

Fennekin continued to stare at her trainer while stealing glances at the photo once in a while. She couldn't understand the odd behaviour of her trainer; she couldn't tell if Serena was happy, sad, anxious or solemn among many emotions flashing on her features that she could hardly see anymore. Perhaps overwhelmed?

But as she glanced back at the photo one last time, observing a young raven-haired boy beaming brightly, a sense of understanding started dawning on her.

Has her trainer not mentioned this boy to her before?

* * *

 

When a sensual feeling tickled her nose, Serena sneezed quietly, waking up from her deep slumber. Her eyes abruptly opened, flickering under the harsh sunlight, and the first thing she noticed was the soft fur of Fennekin's tail in front of her face. She sniffed, slightly rubbing her nose, and noticed the tail moving slowly. When she glanced down towards her chest, she saw Fennekin snuggling into her belly as she snored peacefully. Her hand was lying over the fox Pokémon, hugging her close securely. The warm body snuggling against her only eased her in the cool spring morning.

Her eyes began to adjust to the light and she finally let Fennekin go. She pushed herself up on the bed, into the sitting position before stretching her arms wide. A soft moan escaped her lips and she sighed, heaving a breath in and out slowly.

A gentle smile swept over features, a refreshing sensation gushing through her. It was a peaceful night for her and she couldn't have agreed more. No stress. No tension. No troubles. No nightmares—

A frown suddenly overlapped her smile and a sharp pang gushed through her head. She winced, biting her lips as she held her head. It stayed momentarily before dissipating in the thin air, and Serena sighed in relief. To say she wasn't traumatised at this point would be an understatement. The flames engulfing a house and painful screams filling her ears were more than enough to horrify her, but it was truly the feeling of anxiety that bewildered her. Every night, she felt like she was right there, right in front of the child that horrified her beyond her imagination.

She sighed again, placing her hand on her chest. Her heart ached and her arms trembled a little, but it took her more than that to calm her down. Even after all these years, she hadn't gotten used to them. Moreover, she wondered where did they come from in the first place.

As Serena prepared to get off the bed, her eyes landed on the watch placed on her study table. She glanced at it intently, reading the time in her mind. Something felt odd to her—09:03 AM it read—and it took her a while to process it but the moment she realised it, that half an hour had already passed since the school started, her mind went blank and a shriek escaped her lips.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Serena quickly got up her bed and rushed to the study table. Her hands fumbled through everything placed on it before she finally woke up her laptop and glanced at the screen; it remained saved at where she had left it last night, at the very end of the first assignment.

"No-no-no-no-no-no—" She started squeaking in panic, sweat rolling down her forehead.  _This can't be happening to me right now!_  She exclaimed in her head but as the realisation dawned upon her, she lost all her composure and screamed out, "Mom!"

Grace Gabena, a brown-haired woman in her thirties, turned around and glanced up from her work upon listening to her daughter screaming. "What is it?" she yelled back in response from the first floor.

It took a brief moment only, but before she could let the worry overtake her, she heard the sound of footsteps rushing down towards her. A moment not too soon, Serena stood in front of her mother, eyes wide open, breathing wildly and entire body trembling and covered with sweat; the pink hairband barely kept her messed up hair anymore.

"School started half an hour ago, why didn't you wake me up?" Serena screamed before Grace could open her mouth, startling her. "I haven't even finished my assignments yet and today is the last date of submission. And I'm late already too...Oh god, what am I going to do?"

"C-Calm down, Seren—"

"How can I calm down at a time like this? I was already worried about the assignments and I'm running late, too, now! I should have done this already. Oh god, how am I going to even deal with thi—"

"Serena, calm down! At least listen to me first!" Grace interjected suddenly and forced her hands on Serena's shoulders hard. The honey-haired girl lost all her composure and fell back on the couch behind her, her eyes widening and mouth opening agape.

"Everything is fine, you don't have to worry about anything!" Grace wasn't loud, but her words were sharp. Serena stammered as she tried to argue back but Grace interjected again. " I said  _everything is fine!_ You don't have to worry, I already handled everything," she added the latter part in a softer voice.

"Y-You did what?" Her eyes widened with surprise and Serena clutched her hands tightly before she realised something. "Wait...what are you even talking about? What do you mean you handled it? How did you even handle it?"

"We have a bigger issue right now that I explained to your principle earlier this morning. You don't have to worry about your school anymore."

"What?"

"That might have come out the wrong way then I intended it to," Grace murmured to herself before glancing up at her daughter and waving her hand in disagreement. "Don't mind it. Moreover, now that you are all up and awake, help me with packing."

"Packing...?" Serena murmured in a low voice before she noticed something odd about her surrounding. In her panic, she hadn't noticed earlier but the room felt very empty. Shelves were emptied and even some of the furniture was missing. The floor was occupied by various boxes filled with decoratives. The room was a complete mess.

"Mom...what is this all about?" the honey-haired girl couldn't help but ask. Only when she turned back to her mother did she realise Grace was also wearing a white bandana covering her head, something that she had ignored before. At this point, she had a rough idea of what was happening, but she refused to believe such a sudden move. "Are we moving?"

As if on cue, two Machoke walked in the room unannounced, a man following behind them. They walked to an emptied shelf before picking it up from either side. The man began guiding the two Superpower Pokémon and led them outside. Serena stared at them with a dumbfounded expression until they disappeared from her sight before a low sound of murmuring broke her trance. She looked up at her mother right in time as she sighed tiredly and glanced back at her.

"Yes, we are moving," Grace replied with a tired smile.

"But...why?" Serena couldn't help but ask. "And why so suddenly?" she added as she stood back up.

"There was an urgent call," Grace said in a low voice. "But you don't have to worry about anything. I will explain it to you later when I have free time. Right now, I want you to help me out. You can go ahead and freshen up, I will prepare breakfast for you in the meantime."

"But mom..." Serena hesitated. She placed a hand on her heart and stepped forward. "...I just don't understand. Why do we have to move so suddenly? What about my school? And my friends too? I-Isn't it just too sudden? And...and what about transferring to another school? The academic year will end in a few months anyway so can't we just postpone it?"

There was a sudden change in her mother's mood as she stared at the honey-haired girl morosely, contemplating, and a brief silence filled the air in the room. Serena brought her hands down and behind her back, twiddling her fingers together.  _Did I say something wrong?_  The honey-haired girl couldn't help but wonder, her chest heaving in and out slowly.  _Maybe if I apologize—_

It was very rare thought that crossed her mind as she timidly averted her gaze to her feet, finding a sudden interest in the floor. Even if she wondered that, her mother's expression wasn't anything usual to her. If anything, it was the first time she had seen her mother like this at all. Anxious, a little bit angry maybe, but there was a hint of fear in her eyes as well. For a moment, she thought she was in a delusion but a corner of her mind screamed to believe her intuition. In the end, she could not stop feeling apprehensive.

"Our flight is later tonight so we have a lot of time for now," Grace began with a heavy sigh. "I have been packing since last night and the moving company was informed urgently too. Over half of the work is done so you don't have to worry too much about helping me either." Grace paused momentarily, eyeing her daughter earnestly. At least, Serena thought it was an earnest gaze. Moreover, as she looked at her mother and recalled her words, she realised there were dark circles under her mother's eyes, the kind she had rarely seen. She couldn't help but wonder,  _at least that explains why she looks so tired..._

While Serena found herself lost in her trance, she did not notice when Grace stepped in front of her. She only realised it when her mother placed her hands on her shoulder. "You can have the whole evening for yourself...to let your friends know and say goodbye," she said in a sincere tone before she suddenly pulled her daughter into an embrace.

Serena was surprised, to say the least. She hadn't expected such a move from her mother and upon feeling those arms trembling slightly against her, she was more confused than before. "Mom..." she couldn't help but whisper out, her arms slowly reaching around her mother's neck in a rather unusual affectionate moment. She still did not understand what was happening or why it was happening, but the least she could do was let her mother worry less. For now at least. Even if she couldn't accept anything at all, she herself needed time to process everything, and she could bother her mother later as much as she would like to. Then there were also her friends that she needed to face later today.

"Mom," Serena murmured in a soft voice and her mother hummed in response. "Where exactly are we moving to?"

"Pallet Town."

The response was more shocking than she could have contemplated.

 


	3. Chapter 2

_"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Vermilion City International Airport. Local time is 06:52 PM and the temperature is 8°C. Please check around your seat for any personal belongings you may have brought on board with you and please use caution when opening the overhead bin, as heavy_ _articles_ _may have shifted around during the flight. On behalf of Air Kalos and the entire crew, I'd like to thank you for joining us on the trip and we are looking forward to seeing you onboard again in the near future. Enjoy your stay!"_

As the announcement rang in her head for the umpteenth time, reminding her of her current predicament, Serena let out a sigh. Over half an hour had passed since they had left the airport, booked a cab and were on their way to their new house.

Serena still could not believe that they have moved from Vinvile Town. If anything, she was rather upset. When she had confronted her friends yesterday—at least she thought it was yesterday—they appeared less surprised than she had imagined them to be. Apparently, her mother had explained the entire scenario to her school principal and words spread around like fire thereafter.

She no longer cared that they were moving; somehow she had convinced herself to believe that, yet a lingering feeling of regret remained deep inside her. She felt like a part of her was taken away from her, that much she had grown accustomed to her home. Even if her friends knew, they still appeared as bewildered as she was and threw questions at her one after another. She would have loved to reply had she known herself what was happening, or rather why it was happening.

She was in the dark even now.

Her train of thoughts broke when her nose tickled, a small sneeze reverberating in the quiet cab. She brought her hands together and rubbed her arms. Kanto was warmer than Kalos, she knew that, but perhaps she overestimated the difference. Her eyes moved over to the dashboard of their ride and she noticed the temperature reading—11°C it said.

"Are you okay?" Her mother's voice suddenly rang in her ears, breaking her trance. Serena looked up at her from the corner of her eye and gave a small nod. Her mother smiled warily at her. "Always so stubborn...why didn't you wear something warmer?"

"How was I supposed to know that it would be cold here?" the honey-haired girl argued but could not stop a blush from creeping over her face upon noticing a teasing smile on her mother's face.

She ended up averting her gaze, glancing outside the window while her mother laughed behind her. Her eyes twitched briefly as she murmured her annoyance under her breath, glancing at the tree-lined pathway swooshing past them. She noticed people walking by, in and out of tall buildings. The area appeared lively and it took her a while to realize something.

"Wasn't it supposed to be a town, not a city?" Serena murmured, her voice loud enough to reach her mother. "How can this place change so much in just ten years?" She could not hold back her astonishment.

"Ten years are enough, Serena," her mother spoke. Serena glanced back at her. "Besides, we aren't exactly in Pallet Town yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Just look around you, do you recognize any of it?" When Grace questioned her, Serena gave her a perplexed look. How was she supposed to answer that?  _I don't, of course._  And yet as she thought that, she didn't truly realise what her mother meant. Grace seemed to read her as well and sighed.

"The Pallet Town you remember is on the other side of the city. Everything you see here, it was built over the last ten years."

"No way!" Serena gasped. "You mean they built this much in just ten years? And how do you even know that?"

Her mother laughed a little as she glanced at the other side of the road. She had heard of it before, but watching this drastic change with her own eyes surprised her, too. She sighed to herself before turning back to her daughter.

"Your father had been here recently," she said.

Serena, who had been holding onto the window panel, felt her grip loosening. Slowly, she turned around and glanced at her mother. "Dad was here?"

"Yeah." Her mother nodded. "How else do you think we managed to get everything settled down in such a short time? You should know it's almost impossible to find a new house and move in just within a few days."

Serena nodded. That was one of the questions she had been meaning to ask her mother, but caught up on impulse it slipped her mind almost every time. Now that she thought about it, there was another question she had wanted to ask.

"So this house we're moving in...what is it like?"

"You don't know?" Grace appeared surprised and gave her a perplexed look. Serena couldn't help but wonder how she was supposed to know that when she wasn't told about anything. She did not have to wait long to get the answer. "You lived your first six years in that house."

"Huh?" Her eyes widened and Serena struggled to find the right words. "W-What...?"

* * *

True to the words, the house did appear familiar, and as she breathed in the air, her hands clenched tightly and eyes wandering around, a sense of deja vu traversed her body. Her new house, her new home— _or perhaps old would be the better choice of word?_ —did not appear much different from the one they left behind. Serena could not help but be amazed. She flopped down on the bed behind her and let out a sigh of exhaustion. Helping her mother had taken a toll on her and there was still a lot of work left to do.

"I'm so tired..." Serena murmured, stretching her legs and arms wide even as she laid on the bed. She glanced around again, her eyes looking past all the boxes placed in the middle of the room. She had only brought her stuff to her room and prepared the bed—somewhat—before she decided that she still had not recovered from the travel fatigue. She still had to arrange her wardrobe, prepare her study table and organise the whole room overall; she could only sigh aloud when she realised her room had already been cleaned. She could only imagine the pain she would have had to suffer from if she had to do it on her own.

Observing her new room once again reminded her of her so-called predicament that had been eating her and her mind suddenly drifted elsewhere without a warning and another worry overwhelmed her. She had just moved to a new town. That meant she had also transferred to another school. For a girl who had spent almost all her life in the same school, the sudden change was too much to bear. Not only that but, the academic sessions in Kanto and Kalos, though sharing many similarities, had one significant difference that bothered her the most—it started in April every year and would end in following March. To her, that practically meant she would be repeating one semester. That had been one of the major reasons she strongly opposed her mother to leave Kalos—at the very least, on such short notice. What came next, however, was a surprise to even her. Her usual impressionable mother rejected her entirely. She had been gentle, as usual—of course—but the fact that she was forced to move against her will did not change. That once again reminded her that she still didn't know what caused them to move places in the first place. Her mother had said it was an urgent call, that something very important came up, but what could have forced such drastic changes upon them that they couldn't even resist?

"Only if I knew..." Serena muttered to herself and breathed in heavily.

Her face rolled to a side and she noticed an old portable music player lying on the bed, next to her. She reached out for it, her one hand holding it and scrolling through the list of songs as she put earphones up with another. She soon found a particular song and played it, leaving the device on her chest and breathed out longingly as the music rang in her ears. She slowly hummed the melody, her mind finally coming at peace. Her eyes closed and she found herself swaying deep in the sea of thoughts—the very thoughts that she had been struggling with but now thinking it through with a cool mind. Her mother had been silent about it and there was no way around it. Perhaps her father could tell her about it?

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen dad in a while," Serena said to herself, her head leaning to a side again as she watched out of the window next to the study table. Her gaze softened and she breathed out, her hands fiddling with the music player. "I wonder how he's doing..."

It was at that moment when the door of her room suddenly opened and Serena saw her mother at the door, somewhat agitated but also relieved.

"What's up, mom?" she asked.

"Didn't you hear me? I've been calling you for a long time and—" Grace paused the moment she saw her daughter wearing earphones and her eyes narrowed in obvious irritation. "Never mind."

Realising the sudden change in her mother's mood and the cause of it, Serena took out the earphones and sat upon the bed, looking up at her. "So what do you want?"

"Ah, right," Grace said under her breath. "Do you want to go out for dinner later? I don't think I'll be able to set up the kitchen right away even with your help."

"Eating outside, huh?" Serena thought to herself. Although the idea that her mother underestimated her was irritating, her mind focused on a different subject entirely. If they were going out, she would be able to take a good look at the renewed Pallet Town. The idea seemingly excited her and she nodded with a soft smile. "Sure."

* * *

 

"He did what?!" a boy suddenly yelled out aloud. "What do you mean he ran away?"

_"Listen, I don't have time to explain. The bag you took with you, do you still have it?"_

"Yeah," the boy murmured. "What about it?"

_"Professor said that his Pokéball is missing. You probably took it with you without realising it."_

"And what do you expect me to do exactly?" the boy grumbled, his eyes narrowing.

_"You don't need me to tell you that."_

There was a long pause after that, a brief, unnerving silence growing between the two. As the sound of leaves rustling and wind gushing rang like a lullaby in the park, the boy let his environment distract him briefly. But the peace lasted momentarily and the voice pulled him back to the reality again, less aggressive and more sound.

_"Listen. I get it that you don't like doing this but we don't have any choice right now. If nothing else consider this a favour for all the times I've covered for you—even right now."_

"What do y—" The boy paused, his eyes widening suddenly.  _He couldn't have known, could he?_  Briefly, the thought rang in his mind before he shook his head, sighing out loud as he finally sat up. "Fine."

 _"Now that's the spirit!"_  The voice cheered on the other end.  _"So do you want me to pick you up after that?"_

The boy breathed in heavily as he chucked down the last piece of grilled meat, the skewer glistening with the sauce under the streetlamp. He placed one hand back in the pocket of his jacket—the sound of the carry bag rustling in his arm reminding him of his current predicament—as he finally glanced down at his feet, at the bodies of men lying on the ground lifelessly. A few appeared conscious, but all they could do was grumble in pain.

"I'm good—" the boy murmured under his breath as he stepped forward, only to lose his composure and almost fell. He sighed and added, "Just a little tired."

 _"If you say so..."_  the voice responded before the boy on the other end finally hung up.

Letting the night's breeze hit him on the face, the boy placed the device back in his pocket. "You guys aren't even fun at all," he murmured. "At least put  _some_  fight if like ganging up on a high school kid."

The words fell in deaf ears—probably—but the boy could care less. He moved forward without a care in the world, kicking one, stepping on a few until one of them responded with a tired grumble. He wouldn't have cared if he hadn't noticed something in the hand of the delinquent. He bent down and picked it up, raising it high in the sky as he stared at it. It was a Pokéball, broken into half, tied to a string and damaged beyond repair. It was merely an accessory to him but the memory behind it was what made it so special to him. So he continued to stare at it, reminiscing about it in his head, remembering the memory and that young boy who had given it to him, and even if it for a brief moment, the scowl on his face was replaced by a small, genuine smile.

"You shouldn't have taken it." The boy sighed, his eyes moving from the Pokéball to his arm instead as the loose sleeve rolled down from it. He glanced at the bruise on his arm, almost bleeding. There was a brief shimmer on his arm in the darkness and as a small and faint flame lit up, the scowl came back. His eyes narrowed, darkened and a deep, husky voice whispered in his ears, urging him to finish what he had started.

_They don't deserve this mercy after all..._

The boy considered those words but then frowned, realizing the direction his thoughts were taking. Grumbling angrily, he walked off, whispering to no one in particular in a dangerously low voice, "Just die already."

* * *

"Can I come here again?" Serena quipped in over the noise of the loud crowd.

Her mother glanced down at her daughter from the corner of her eyes and smiled. "Whenever I am free—"

"Can  _I_  come here again?" the honey-haired girl repeated, emphasizing herself as her eyes narrowed.

"Why do you want to come to a family restaurant on your own?" Grace inquired, a sly smile on her face.

"That's not what I meant." Serena looked back at the street they were walking on. "I saw some really good cafe and bakeries a couple of blocks earlier and they are on the way to the school as well." She paused, looking up at her mother and then quickly added, "If you didn't mess up with directions—"

"Okay now that's unnecessarily rude and uncalled for," Grace retorted. "My sense of direction is way better than you."

"If that was true we wouldn't have gotten lost in the first place..." Serena added nonchalantly, hiding a small smile from her mother when she realised that she was starting to get on her nerves.  _I'll make you understand how I feel!_

"I was asking for directions because it's our first time here!" Serena smiled wider, slightly giggling to herself. "Besides I don't want to hear that from the girl who cries every time she gets lost..."

Her smile faded when her mother ended that in a singing tone. "One time!" Serena fumed. "And that was over ten years ago!" Grace's laughter rang in her ears and at that moment she realised that she had walked right into that one. "Mom!"

Grace would have said something had a phone call not interrupted her. She picked it up, motioning Serena with her other hand to quiet down. "Hello?"

Serena could only watch as her mother engrossed herself into the conversation with whoever was on the other end. She huffed in annoyance, her face still burning. In her mind, she continued to chide her mother, perhaps herself, too, but those thoughts lasted momentarily as she observed something—the smile on her mother's face that had died down turned into a scowl and then she frowned. She seemingly noticed her daughter's gaze on her and put on her best poker face—at least Serena thought it was that—as she continued to listen and nodding and humming in response. Serena couldn't help but wonder if her mother was doing this on purpose to keep her in dark.

"Okay, I'll go get it then," Grace suddenly finished. When the call ended, she turned to look at her daughter. "Honey, can you wait here for a moment? I have an errand to run."

"Wait, what?" Serena almost yelled, looking up at her mother. "Are you leaving me alone in the middle of nowhere?"

"We are at the bus stop, Serena." Grace sighed. "And if it worries you so much you can wait at the police station across the street." Serena blinked for a moment before looking across the street. As her mother had said, she saw a small booth and an officer standing guard outside. She turned back to her mother when she continued, "I won't take too long so don't wander off somewhere." And with that, the brunette walked off in the direction they had come from, looking back at her daughter one final time before disappearing into the crowd.

Serena grumbled to herself, holding the carry bag across her chest and arms wrapped around it.  _"Don't wander off somewhere,"_  she repeated after her mother, mimicking her before she began walking in the direction they were going to. For a brief moment, the thought occurred to her that they were supposed to take a bus from the bus stop but she was far too caught up in her thoughts to listen to her rational voice and decided to do what she knew best instead: rebelling against her mother, even if that meant troubling her. To a certain degree, that very well might have been her objective. Somehow, that was the stage their usual banter had reached.

Walking down the street and lost in her thoughts, Serena remained oblivious to the lack of people around her. Her small steps came to a momentary pause when a breeze gushed past her, through an alley. Serena stopped, breathing steadily as she broke free of her thoughts. But it was at that moment, when a whispering cry echoed in her head like a bone-chilling shrill, that she truly noticed her surrounding for the first time. Her mouth opened, her lips quivered and her eyes trembled as she gathered the courage to look to her right, at an unexpectedly dark alley, but it was truly the sense of nostalgia and familiarity that terrified her. The voice, the memories of those screams came rushing back to her and even if for a brief moment, at the far end of the narrow alleyway, she saw a glimpse of a small, shimmering fire.

Another breeze blew by. Her waist-length hair swayed, and so did her skirt. She could hardly hold onto the bag in her arms as she glanced at the abyss, feeling her feet growing week and her arms numb. By no means, Serena was reckless, much less an idiot. She knew the wisest course of action was to turn around and walk away, back to where she came from, and yet her body refused to listen. She tried to justify her actions with curiosity, but the truth was far from home. From the corner of her mind—perhaps her sanity—a small voice whispered in her ears, telling her not to move ahead, towards the very nightmare that had haunted her for so long, but even before she could think it through, the decision was made and by the time she realised it, she was already walking into the alleyway.

It only appeared to her after the first few bone-chilling moments that the alley wasn't as dark as it appeared to be. With her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could see a dumpster lined up against the wall, a fire escape hanging above it. The deeper she went, the more obvious it became to her that she was heading to a different block, far different and yet very less desirable from the rest of the city she had seen tonight. She wondered why even a place like this existed—it almost felt like an intentional design flaw in the way of achieving perfection. She had been to Lumiose City her fair share of time, she had seen several alleyways before, and yet she couldn't reason against this ominous feeling. The sense of unfamiliarity remained and once again she questioned her decision. And she would have listened to it, considered it, too, but the sound of metals racking together boomed in her ears, followed by a loud thud as a body fell on the ground. Instinctively, Serena rushed to the wall and leaned into it, her ears picking on the sound of footsteps heading her way.

"Found it!" a boy spoke, his voice loud with excitement. "Told ya' bitch! Shouldn't have messed with me!" The sound of several people—boys apparently, Serena assumed—laughing followed before the boy continued. "Good job, Houndoom."

Terrified to her bones yet curiosity at its peak, Serena couldn't help but glance from around the corner at the wide opening. At the far side of it, she saw a group of boys— _trainers perhaps?_ —standing around something. Serena leaned out for a closer look, eventually hiding behind another dumpster lined up against the adjacent wall. Her eyes widened when she saw a blue quadruped—a Froakie—beaten up and out of breath, lying at their feet.

"W-What are they doing to him...?" she whispered to herself, her hands trembling. She observed as the dark canine Pokémon growled in a boy's direction before letting out a loud howl. Serena had expected it to be a hoarse voice, so when an eerie sound rang in her ears, her body shuddered and she fell to her knees, her heart beating faster. All of a sudden, she became conscious of the Pokémon. A fear dwelled inside her.

"'I'm calling dibs—" the trainer of Houndoom said, his hand reaching out for a Pokéball on his waist, his smile turning into a smirk. "—after all, I think I deserve this after everything he put me through."

The boy prepared to throw the ball at the unconscious Froakie. Perhaps he was too caught up in his haze that he didn't hear an incoming rustling noise, but his Houndoom did. Right before he could throw the Pokéball, a bolt of electricity came shining through another alley. Houndoom growled and breathed out flames in its direction, making a quick work of the thunderbolt. He stood in front of the boys and growled threateningly in the direction of the alley. Serena turned in the direction, only to find a Pikachu glaring back at them, electricity sparking on his cheeks.

"Come on, not now..." the boy grumbled, feeling tasteless while one of the boys with him clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Ah, it's you guys again..." a voice spoke from the dark, from behind the electric type. Clad into a hoodie that covered his dark hair, a relatively younger boy stopped in front of the Pikachu. "It's strange, really. I try to avoid you but keep running into you. Do you have a death wish or something, Thompson?"

"Not a fan either, boy, but what are the odds?" the boy, Thompson, said. He smiled to himself, looking at the other boy confidently. "So...to what do I owe the honour of your presence?"

The boy silent glanced at Thompson. There was no malice in his eyes, nor was he glaring and yet there was something terrifyingly wrong with his gaze. Thompson, however, stood unfazed. Or perhaps, at the very least, he did a good job at hiding his nerve-wracking frown behind his wavering smirk. The boy continued to glance at him before his eyes moved to others, then at the Houndoom, who growled in response, before finally looking down at the unconscious Pokémon.

The boy breathed in sharply, the air growing quiet, and he opened his mouth slightly. As if he had anticipated what was coming, Thompson suddenly interjected and right before the younger boy could speak. "Yeah, well, if it's about that Pokémon then forget it. I found him. I beat him. He's mine. Fair and square."

The boy squinted his eyes, frowning slightly. His hand reached out for a Pokéball hanging on his belt and he enlarged it. As if on cue, Thompson aimed and threw the Pokéball at the Froakie, only for a Thunderbolt to cancel it out. The ball burned to a crisp and flew to a corner of the alley. Thompson gritted his teeth while his Houndoom barked. The boy silently pressed the centre button of the capturing device and, with a brief glow, Froakie was sucked back in the ball.

"He has always been mine. Fair and square," the boy murmured, almost mocking the older boy who glared at him. But the look in his eyes softened soon and he breathed longingly.

"You need to take good care of your Pokémon, kiddo. After all, who knows what run-of-the-mill punk would catch and sell it out," Thompson said and started taking small steps towards the boy. Pikachu growled and threatened them with electricity but Thompson paid him no heed. The other boys passed him, but Thompson stopped right past his shoulder. "Oh right, reminds me..." he murmured in a slow voice. "Heard you've been beating some punks lately?"

"And you care because...?" the boy retorted and Thompson chuckled to himself.

"I don't, honestly. In fact, it's quite nice knowing it'll be peaceful around here for a while." He paused, then continued. "But you know, it's surprising. I thought you liked avoiding them. Well, can't help if they came on to you, I suppose." There was another pause as an eerily quiet air gushed in the air. The boy stood unfazed, his dead eyes now staring down at the ground. As he breathed out, as if the temperature had dropped around him, he breathed out fog. A powerful gust of wind blew by and the hood covering his head flew off, freeing his hair into the wilderness. For a moment, it felt like peace had returned to the place, and right then, Thompson laid his final words in a low, whispering voice, "Been crying to empty graves again, boy?"

At that moment, the peace and tranquillity, everything that had been built up to that point, Serena witnessed it falling apart. The grim look on his face suddenly vanished. His eyes widened, his hands turned into fists and like a raging volcano, he was about to burst. Serena witnessed flames igniting on his sleeves, on his back, in his eyes. For a moment, she almost fell for her delusion that he was the one responsible before a massive Flamethrower erupted behind him. Flames so dense they could crisp him alive then and there, the boy was burned into it as he flew away from them, towards her.

Her breathing hitched when the boy smashed against the dumpster, denting it, before falling on the ground. In her ears rang the thrilling laughter of boys before they rushed away from the spot, but her eyes remained on the boy that laid in front of her, burning from head to toe. A momentary thought of helping him out rushed to her head but when she saw him moving still, his clothes burning yet his body remaining unscathed, her brain went awry. She hesitated, trying to reach out for him, but when their eyes crossed even if for a brief moment only, all she could see was a child in the middle of a fire, screaming in pain. All the haunting memories came rushing back to her mind and every fibre of her being screamed at her to run away.

Face sweaty and eyes tearful, the honey-haired girl got back to her feet and dashed back, out of the alley and barely holding onto the shopping bag that she had brought with her. She turned around the corner, moved past the crowd and almost ran through the traffic, but her feet didn't stop until she once again found herself where her mother had left her before. She walked into the bus stop before collapsing on a chair, breathing heavily. Her hands covered her face as she leaned forward, her elbows resting on her thighs. In her mind, the vision continued to haunt her, but now distracted with the noise of the crowd and the traffic, she finally looked up at the street. Somewhat calm now, only now did she realize that some people were giving her weird looks.

Serena didn't realise how much time had passed since she sat in her haze. Her eyes remained fixated on the road ahead while her head remained down as she tried to ignore everyone, to take her mind off everything.  _Everything._

It wasn't until she felt a hand on her shoulder did her trance break and she looked up to see her mother standing there, huffing and giving her trademark apologetic look. "Sorry, it took a while—" Grace breathed in heavily and sat down next to Serena in the bus stop. "I...I didn't think it was so far away. Then some kids got into some fight as well and caused a ruckus in the middle of the city. An officer told me to take a reroute...can you believe to, Serena? Serena? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Serena closed her eyes and breathed in sharply, trying to subside her fear, and yet he head subconsciously shook slowly. "N-No..."

Her mother gave her a perplexed look before it turned into the one of worry. "What happened...?"

She cursed to herself, muttering something in her head. She placed her hand on her chest as she tried to calm down her bewildered heart when something hit her. All she could feel was her chest beneath her hand and the realisation finally dawned upon her.

"I—" She sighed, the sadness in her voice hardly reflecting the fear behind it. "I think I dropped my necklace somewhere."

 


	4. Chapter 3

Quiet as it seemed, the sunlight shimmering on a fresh new spring morning and a breeze blowing leaves across the street, the town had long woken up. Serena looked outside the window, at the scenery zooming past her and beyond, and felt her heart at ease. Her legs moved back and forth following the rhythm of the song that was playing on the stereo. She hummed quietly along with it, her eyes observing a street lamp that was still lit up.

Some days had passed since her family had moved to Pallet Town. It had been quite hectic few days as the duo did their best to arrange everything but the house was finally a place they could call their home. It came with its fair share of expenses, though, as half of the time the mother and the daughter spent arguing what was supposed to go where. Her mother's Rhyhorn could not be any less grateful that they had settled down his own little home first; he could only imagine what a disaster it would have been had the two fought over it as well. In the end, it was a miracle that they finished everything as soon as they did.

They spent the following days shopping for supplies and it was during that time that something rang in Serena's mind. "Mom! What about school!" the honey-haired girl had screamed, panicking and sweating. Grace acted clueless at first and it wasn't until Serena's eyes welled up with tears that she apologised and explained the details to her. Her father had already made the necessary preparations beforehand and she only needed to start attending the classes. It had irked her when she realised that the academic year had started almost a week ago; as if making her repeat one whole semester wasn't enough.

Serena quietly sang to herself, lost in her own little world. When her mother heard her, she quietly increased the volume of the stereo. That did not buzz Serena and her mother smiled to herself, recalling the time Serena had used the same song for her debut performance.

"You are in a good mood," Grace said, her eyes on the road.

Serena finally turned to look at her mother. She tucked her hair behind her ear, her eyes narrowing. "I'm trying to not think about the fact that you made me transfer in the middle of my second semester and then repeat the first one. As a bonus, you also made me wait so long, now I'm running behind a week."

"You are in a terrible mood," Grace added nonchalantly, making sure not to look in her direction.

Serena whispered something under her breath before bringing her attention back at the streets. Her hand reached to her chest, where her necklace used to be and she heaved in a long breath, feeling somewhat disappointed.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," Grace said, interrupting her train of thoughts. "Make sure to see the principal first."

"Why?" Serena asked. "Didn't you say dad dealt with everything?"

"Just do as I say," Grace said with a small, playful smile. Serena slumped into the seat, almost as if she was pouting, and crossed her arms across her chest. Grace laughed and added, "You'd be surprised, trust me."

"Whatever," Serena said, agitated. "It's not like I'll get on time anyway."

"O-Ho?" Grace had a sudden change in her expression when she heard those words. "Are you perhaps implying that I'm slow?"

"Of course, you are! Look at the tim—" Serena paused amidst her words when she realised what she had done. Her mother loved the thrill of speed, something that she had carried from her days as a Rhyhorn racer, and albeit she had retired, by no means was she a slouch. Her words had just fueled a fire. "Mom, wait, no. That's not what I meant—"

Grace paid her no heed and a look of pure terror spread across her face when Serena witnessed her mother placing her hand on the gear shaft and a moment later, the car was speeding down the road at an unfathomable speed.

"Mom...no! Slow down!"

* * *

 

Serena was recuperating the first thing after she stepped out of the car, her hand on its roof as she breathed heavily. "Right on time! In fact, you are ten minutes early!" Her mother said proudly. When Serena looked at her, she grinned. "Not so slow now, am I?"

"What the hell is wrong with you mom?!" Serena screamed, still barely breathing. "You gave me a heart attack!"

"Oh psht." Grace waved her hand at her. "You've lived through worse."

"Are you proud of it?" Serena couldn't believe her words at first. What mother would threaten her child's life and be proud of it? But when she reminisced her hellish Rhyhorn racing training sessions ever since she was a kid, she sighed to herself. Her own mother, she realised, who else could be like that? "I feel like I am talking to a wall."

"You are mean," Grace said with a small smile.

Serena opened her mouth to argue back when she felt a sudden jolt in her chest, a familiar sensation traversing through her body. The flames, the scream, the boy— _n-no...not here, not now!_ Serena panicked, her expression changing. Her mother observed the change and grew concerned. She even called her out but, to Serena, her voice faded into thin air. In her mind, she could only think of one thing:  _why now out of all the time?_

In her haze, she did not notice someone heading her way and fast. It wasn't until that her heart calmed down for a moment that she heard the footsteps rushing towards her. She turned to look in the direction and saw someone rushing towards her, someone clad into a lab coat and holding an incubator. Serena stepped aside from the way to avoid the collision, but she did not expect the person to trip in the hurry. Her eyes widened when she saw the incubator sailing in the air, all her worries directed at the egg inside. She could hardly bring herself to move, yet she did not expect for the small, rodent Pokémon to make a move. The Pikachu leapt in the air, his small paws extending to hold the device larger than his size, something he realised only after holding it.

At that moment, Serena moved. Her hands extended to hold onto the device and the Pokémon both, but she underestimated their weight. Though she managed to hold the Pikachu, the incubator slipped from both their hands and landed right into the hands of the boy who fell facefirst on the ground in an attempt to catch it.

"A-Are you okay?" Serena squeaked out in worry and leaned down to help him, but heard him cursing someone instead.

"Damn you, Gary Oak," the boy hissed under his breath, trying to stand back up on his feet. "You're gonna get me killed someday." The boy stood back up, holding the incubator close to his chest with one hand and adjusting glasses on his face with another that somehow survived the fall without any scratch. The boy looked down at his hand and his eyes widened. "Dammit, we are going to be late! Hurry up, Pikachu!"

Pikachu briefly looked up at the girl holding her before he jumped off her hands. He gave her a brief greeting before running after the boy. Serena only watched after them as they entered the school premise, unaware that her mother had stepped out of the car.

"What happened?" Grace asked. "Was he okay?"

"I...think so," Serena replied hesitantly, still looking at the two before they disappeared from her sight.

"Oh, well, whatever," Grace murmured and looked down at Serena. "So are you going or what?"

"Yeah, yeah," Serena grumbled, annoyed and Grace laughed again. When her mother extended her arms for a hug, Serena turned around and began walking.

"You really are mean," her mother voiced after her and Serena whined under her breath.

"Fine!" Serena turned around and walked back to her mother, who held her in a comfortably tight embrace.

"Make sure to see the principal," Grace said, her voice muffling in her Serena's hair.

"Yes, mom..." Grace laughed at her voice before finally letting her go.

"Now, shoo. Go away. I don't want to be held responsible if you are late."

"Love you, too, mom." Serena giggled as she ran off towards the school, waving at her mother behind her.

* * *

 

 

Walking down the hallway through a small hoard of students, Serena realised that the school had a noticeably big campus. Though it had three floors, it was spread long and wide. She had yet to explore it but she felt somewhat overwhelmed and, even if only for a brief moment, she wondered if she was lost.

"Well, it is my first time here so..." She tried to justify her thoughts but she knew that it would not help her.

To her relief, though, she found the principal's cabin soon enough. With her eyes liting up with newfound excitement but her heart wrenching with nervousness, she made her way to the cabin. She held the glass door and was about to push it open when her eyes spotted someone. Realising that someone was already inside, she instead stepped back, and leaned back on the wall nearby, waiting for her turn.

Serena stood there for a few minutes, watching students as they passed by her. She breathed heavily when she realised the boy inside was taking too long and pulled out her tablet from her bag to kill some time. She turned it on, checked the time—she still had around five minutes before the bell would ring—and then moved onto her schedule. History, biology, physical education—she scrolled down the list, going on and on. She had good affinity to most of the courses—at least she did not hate them; she hoped they wouldn't be troublesome to her for the year.

As those thoughts continued to roam in her head, she heard the door behind her opening. She turned in the direction to see it half-open, the was boy still talking to the principal.

"The egg is here, don't worry about it but boy was he mad at me for some reason," the brown-haired boy said, chuckling in the end.

"So where is he right now?" an elderly voice spoke that Serena assumed belonged to the principal.

"Yeah, about that..." The boy sighed, scratching the back of his head. "He forgot his bag."

"Professor Juniper won't be happy about it." The principal laughed at his own words and the boy followed.

"Then, see you later!" The boy waved his hand behind him as he left. Right as he stepped out, his eyes landed on Serena standing outside. He smiled softly and gave her a small wave. "Hey."

"H-Hey." Serena stammered somewhat as she replied but the boy did not seem to pay any attention to it. He walked past her and down the hallway, soon disappearing among the buzzing crowd of students.

Serena remained curious about the incident, the boy and his relationship with the principal.  _Is he even a student here?_ She wondered but shook the thought off when she remembered what she had come here for.  _Make sure to see the principal._  Her mother's words rang in her head. She made it sound so easy as if she was meeting her acquaintance. The more she thought about it, the more anxious she grew.  _How am I supposed to_ see _the principal?_

Temporarily pushing the thought out of her mind and gathering every ounce of courage she possessed, Serena pushed the door open and stepped in. "M-May I come in?" she said but did not realise that she was already inside.

"Oh, yes, please," the man on the desk said. He looked up, observing the girl up close as she closed the door behind her. His eyes lit up when he realised who she was and he voiced himself happily, "Is that you, Serena?"

Needless to say, Serena was surprised and glanced up at the man with wide eyes.  _H-How does he know_ — Her thoughts took an abrupt paused when she looked at the man, a familiar face in front of her. "Professor Oak?"

"It is you," Professor Oak said with a smile. "I was hoping to see you earlier. You've grown quite a bit."

"I suppose. It has been ten years, after all." Serena giggled as she made her way to his desk. "Mom asked me to see you earlier. I wasn't expecting you out of all people to be the principal here."

"Grace didn't come with you?" Professor asked.

"Oh, she did," Serena replied. "She dropped me off and left. She had some errands to run."

"That's typical of her." Professor Oak laughed. "But I was hoping to see her, too. How is she doing?"

"She's good," Serena said. An image of her over-energetic mother and her barbaric Rhyhorn training flashed at the back of her head and she added in a low voice, "Too good actually." Professor laughed at her expression as if he had caught on what she was thinking. "But enough about me—how are you doing?"

"Busy, as you can see," Professor replied. "In fact, I sometimes find it bothersome. I thought that being surrounded by Trainers would allow me to observe their bond with their Pokémon...oh how much I miss working in my laboratory." He sighed to himself and Serena nervously laughed to herself. "But keep it between the two of us. I don't tell anyone about it..."

"You can count on me," Serena chimed in. "I'm good at keeping secrets." That was not an understatement and even though Professor Oak did not have means to verify her claim, he accepted that heartedly and laughed.

"Oh boy, look at the time," Professor Oak suddenly said, looking at the clock on the wall. "While I'd like to talk to you more, I think you really should get going now." The realisation struck her hard, too, when she looked at the wall herself. She barely had a few minutes left!

"You are right." Seren gasped for breath. "I will see you later, Professor!" she said as she rushed towards the door. She had only opened it when Professor Oak called her out one last time.

"Oh and, Serena?" Serena turned to Professor Oak and he smiled at her gently. "Welcome to school."

Serena felt her heart flutter and her lips stretched into a giddy smile. "Thank you, Professor!"

Although she was running short for time, Serena found her first class rather easily once she read the patterns of numbers allocated to every room. It was only after she entered that she realised that it was more of a hall than a room and a vast number of students filled it, spread across every corner and chatting.

Serena climbed up a few stairs until she found an empty row. She slipped in and took her seat, set her bag down in her lap and crossed her arms over the table, waiting anxiously for the class to begin. As she had suspected, the bell rang soon enough and although it hardly took a minute since she sat down, in her anxious state, hours had seemed to have passed. She kept her eyes steady in front, quietly observing students making their way to their seats, but it wasn't until she heard the loud sound of footsteps did she snap out of her haze.

"Heh, didn't think you'd make it in time." Serena heard a boy speak in a somewhat familiar voice. She turned in the direction and saw the same boy she had met in front of the Principal's Office. The boy was talking to a blue-haired girl who had just entered the classroom, a little out of breath. She marched towards the boy, her hands clutched tightly.

"I'm never running an errand for you again!" the girl said. "I don't want Professor Juniper all over me."

"She's chill." The boy waved his hand, chuckling. "Besides, as long as he is here she wouldn't bat an eye on anyone."

"Right." The girl breathed out longingly. "So where is he today?" When the boy chuckled to himself, the girl's eyes widened. "Again?"

The boy laughed again. "It's on me today." The boy stretched his arms wide then crossed them behind his head. "Guess I will save him for today. I don't want to owe him anything."

"Whatever," the girl said to herself, waving her hand in disapproval as she walked past him. The boy said something after her but she ignored him, walking up the stairs and looking for an empty seat when she noticed Serena. "Hey, can you move over?"

"Ah—Oh, sure," Serena stammered in surprise before moving over. The blue-haired girl took her seat, placing her bag down at the table. Serena glanced at her from the corner of her eyes, her attention on the girl's blue locks. Watching her made Serena feel like she was on a nostalgic riverside—looking at the days when performance truly caught her eyes. She wondered why the girl reminded her of those days when the bluenette noticed her gaze.

"I haven't seen you around before. Are you new?" the girl asked.

"Yeah," Serena said. "I moved here last week."

"Really? Where are you from?" the girl asked eagerly.

"Kalos," Serena replied.

"Wait, really?" the girl asked, somewhat astonished but then stopped suddenly. Murmuring something to herself, she straightened herself up before continuing, "I'm Dawn." She moved her hand forward.

"I'm Serena." Serena smiled, accepting the greeting.

"You know, that makes two of us," Dawn said, much to Serena's puzzlement. "I'm originally from Sinnoh. I moved here a long time ago."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Dawn nodded, now her complete attention to the honey-haired girl, but before she could continue, a voice interrupted her.

"Hey, Dawn!" the boy from before called in a loud voice. "Come with me after class."

"Why?" Dawn asked.

"Gramps wanted to see you," the boy said.

"Me?" Dawn asked. "Professor Oak?" There was a glint of excitement in her eyes as she spoke.

"Yeah." The boy sighed and added, "No poems, though."

"Oh, come on!" Dawn whined. The boy chuckled before turning his attention away from her, ignoring her. Serena glanced at him and then back at Dawn who appeared annoyed. She wondered what was happening but was soon greeted by the sight of a young woman entering the hall. Observing her green pencil skirt and a light shade of greenish-blue coat, she deduced she was their teacher.

"Okay, boys and girls, back to your seats. Out with your books and—Damien, back to your seat, please. Thank you." The woman said in a quick voice and the crowd in the room disappeared, as she placed her bag on the table. She shuffled through it and brought out her laptop, before looking. "Done everyone? Okay, good. So let me make sure that everyone is here befor—"

She was cut short, however, as loud footsteps echoed in the hallway and a boy soon appeared, his hand resting against the door as he panted heavily. As Serena observed the boy closely, she heard others murmuring around her, a few of them laughing quietly to themselves. She recognized the boy immediately, however, as the boy with a Pikachu she had run into earlier at the entrance. The Pikachu, however, was not with him.

"You almost made it today," the professor spoke, looking at her hand watch.

"Yeah, I—I forgot my bag," the boy spoke, breathing heavily.

"I wonder about that," the professor said as the boy walked into the class. Before she could continue, however, she was interrupted by another student.

"He's telling the truth, ma'am. Gramps asked for him and uh...he forgot his back, yes," the brown-haired boy spoke.

"Professor Oak?" the professor asked.

"A small errand, yes." The boy nodded and she sighed to herself.

"Sorry, ma'am. It won't happen again. I promise," the boy said as he sat down next to the brunette.

"Don't make the promises you cannot keep, Ash." The professor smiled softly, her voice devoid of any venom. While the class laughed at her words, Serena looked at the two boys as Ash appeared to do something under the table and the boy next to him wince in pain, whispering an apology to him in return.

"Professor Juniper is soft on him." Serena heard Dawn speaking next to her. When she gave her a confused look, the blunette shook her head. "Another time."

"Yes, please! Back to the class, everyone." Professor Juniper announced with a smile and, at last, begun the lecture.

 


	5. Chapter 4

"Does he know Professor Oak?"

"What?" Dawn chimed with surprise, looking at the Serena as she closed her locker. "You mean Gary?"

"I don't know his name," Serena admitted truthfully. "You were talking to him earlier today and I even saw him with the principal. He seemed oddly casual about it. Well, knowing him that could be Professor Oak as well, but..."

"Oh, yes. He is the grandson of Professor Oak. His name is Gary Oak." Dawn paused, then added. "Also the son of the champion."

"He is?" Serena questioned, curious as the two began walking down the hallway. Dawn nodded in response but then changed the subject.

"But you sound like you know Professor Oak, too. Personally, I mean," Dawn said.

"Yeah, well. You could say that." Serena gave a small smile. "Back when I was still a kid, my parents used to visit him often. My dad mostly."

"Wait, you used to live in Kanto before?"

"Around a decade ago, yes," Serena replied. "My mom was from Kalos so settling in wasn't that hard but...I wasn't well versed in the language back then."

"Wow," Dawn mused. "I grew up mostly in Sinnoh so language was never a problem for me. You could say I was more of homesick though."

"Yeah." Serena giggled. "I have been there."

"So, how was Pallet Town back in the day?" Dawn asked.

"Much different than this. I could not even recognize it when I first landed here," Serena replied. "Back when I was still a kid, it was quite literally a town between a forest. The closest thing to a city was Viridian City and the first time I saw a skyscraper was in Saffron City."

"Of course!" Dawn chimed in. "Saffron is the biggest city in the region. Bet you are talking about Silph Co."

"Yeah, you might be right," Serena said with a smile.

"So what else do you remember?" Dawn asked.

"Well..." Serena crossed her arms over her chest as she thought about it but realised that there was little to share. "I spent most of my time training with my mother's Ryhorn—it was painful, let me tell you—but...oh yeah, there was this summer camp I took part in once. Well, more like I was forced into it."

"Oh wait, you mean the Pokémon Summer Camp that Professor Oak host?"

"Yes, that one!" Serena beamed.

"That's cool!" Dawn said. "I have heard a lot about it. I always wanted to participate in one. By the time I got around to it, well, I had already grown up."

"Oh yeah...the camp is for kids," Serena admitted. "It was really fun and all but..."

"But what?"

"It was a disaster." Serena sighed.

"What do you mean?" Dawn inquired, her eyes furrowing. "You didn't like it?"

"No, no—" Serena was quick to defend herself as she shook her head. "It kind of grew on me by the time it ended. It's just... I had a rough start." Dawn gave her a curious glance, urging her to continue. "For starters, I didn't want to go there but I was sent against my wish. There were a lot of kids there from all around the world and...I didn't even know anyone. I couldn't talk to them. I couldn't do anything properly. I was all alone there...well, kind of. And when it came to all different activities, I pretty much bombed all of them. I was always the last one. There was one time I got lost into the forest and tripped myself. I started crying but there was no one around at all...it was really scary."

"Oh wow." Dawn laughed. "You actually remembered that, didn't you?"

"Of course, I do!" Serena said loudly. "That was the time I first me—" But her tongue slipped and her consciousness stopped her from continuing. Slowly, her thoughts led her in a different direction. As the abrupt silence between them grew odd, in a small, quiet voice, Serena finally asked, "That boy...Ash—" Dawn reacted strongly to those words as if Serena had forced it down on her, and looked at her. "Is he like Ash Ketchum?"

Dawn stopped as soon as she opened her mouth to respond, giving her a blank stare. She remained silent as Serena looked back at her, and then averted her gaze. Her hands clasped the straps of her bag tightly and tugged on of them as she asked, "You know him?"

"Somewhat..." Serena replied after a brief pondering. When Dawn did not respond, Serena cleared her throat, earning her attention. "Well?"

Dawn took a deep sigh before admitting, "Yes. That's him."

"Oh." That was all Serena could muster out, feeling perplexed over the sudden revelation.

Her arms stretched long and her hands opened wide as she breathed in longingly. Her mother had once pointed out that she does this when feeling overwhelmed but, at that moment, she couldn't bring herself to stay clam. Deep breaths? Her heart fluttered too much. Change her focus? She was lost too deep in thoughts. Think it through? Her mind ran wild!

It started slowly; she saw a boy whose name seemed familiar and now he was all she could think about. It almost felt unreal to her. Who could have thought she would run into him again?

"Wow..." She whispered, her hands clasping on the straps of her bag. She felt a sudden urge to breath more and a certain numbness in her legs.

"What?" Dawn's words rang in her ears and Serena suddenly sprang back to life.

"No, I just—" Serena breathed in, squinting her eyes through the hallway but no one was there to give her a coherent explanation. "I don't know. It's just—"

"It's fine." Dawn cut her short with a sigh, waving her hand. Her voice was down and she avoided looking at Serena. "I have a class. I'll go ahead." And with that, she walked off. Serena could only give her a wordless blank stare. She mustered her courage to call her out, but the blue-haired girl gave her a small glance. "I'll uh... see you later."

And she left.

Serena stood in the hallway, wondering what prompted the uneasiness from Dawn. She couldn't have done anything wrong. They were just talking. She couldn't have said anything to upset...

Serena squinted her eyes as she thought of a possibility. "You can't be serious, right?"

 _But then again,_  she thought to herself,  _Dawn is a pretty girl._  Among all things, however, Serena could not bring herself to accept it. "Aren't I overthinking it?" she wondered as she walked, lost in thoughts. Perhaps she was because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see Dawn as Ash's potential old flame. But her reaction gave Serena a possibility to believe it and she let her mind run loose, thinking things that usually wouldn't even make sense to her.

Serena remained in her small world as she navigated through the hallway, looking for the next class. Dawn and her only shared a handful of classes, apparently, and she was all alone now. She had attempted to reach out to someone to ask for directions but always ended up walking past them before she could utter out even a single word.

Serena took out her tablet from the bag, opened her schedule and searched through it for her next class. With her eyes fixated on the screen and whole attention on it, she couldn't have heard or seen someone coming from the turn ahead. It wasn't until she bumped into someone and her tablet fell that she snapped back into reality. A random student yelled back an apology before disappearing in the crowd in a hurry and Serena sighed to herself. She bent down to pick it up and almost had someone step on her hand. She gasped, then looked up in time to see a boy looking down at her who was as perplexed as she was, but perhaps for a different reason.

"Watch it," the boy said in a small, heavy voice as he stepped aside.

Serena quickly took her tablet and stood up, gathering herself but the boy had moved past her. She turned to look after him, pondered for a minute, then walked after him. "H-Hey! Wait a minute!"

The boy heard her, or so she believed because he slowed down after her call. She walked next to him, trying to get a better look at him but his cap blocked her vision. She had only caught a quick look of him but she was certain about it. A little hesitantly, though, she finally asked him, "You are Ash, right?"

The boy seemed to react to her words and glanced at her. Raven hair, auburn eyes, but most notably, the birthmark on his cheek; Serena beamed with joy. "I knew it!"

The boy gave her a perplexed look. "Do I know—" He paused for a moment and carefully looked at her again. "We ran into each other in the morning..."

"Oh, yes." Serena nodded, remembering her encounter with the boy from earlier in the morning that had somehow slipped her mind. "Is that egg okay?"

"Yeah." The boy breathed in, averting his gaze. She had saved her a big trouble first thing in the morning, more importantly, a life, and he felt heavily indebted and grateful to her. "Thanks," he added quietly, but then remembered that one thing still did not make sense. "How do you know my name?"

"I—" Serena opened her mouth to respond but then paused. As if she had been upset greatly, she chided him. "How rude. After all this time, are you telling me you don't remember me?"

"Afraid I don't."

If his question hadn't been shocking enough, that dealt the final blow to her. She was wordless and breathless; the ease in his tone made her realise that she was talking to Ash, but he was to a stranger.

"A-Are you...You are not joking, right?" Serena stammered out in surprise but the boy did not even bat an eye to her. "You don't remember me?"

"I said it already," the boy said.

"Aww, come on," Serena whined to herself in a low voice. Perhaps she had tried to keep it to herself but the boy heard her. He adjusted his bag and decided to carry on without her. Her low pace gave him a lead on her.

Serena was once again snapped back into reality when she observed the absence of the boy next to her. She saw him walking ahead of her and once again rushed next to him. This time, however, she was speechless and—to some extent—hopeless. The air around them became awkward as she walked next to him, silent and fidgeting on and about.

Her desperate attempts to hold a conversation with him may seem amusing to some but he seemed to despise the idea. His face furrowed into an annoyed expression that he—somehow—successfully hid under the rim of his cap, but a part of him wondered why he even bothered to keep up with her in the first place.

"Are you really, really, really sure you don't remember me?" Serena asked for the, probably, umpteenth time and by this point, any trace of gratefulness that he had felt towards her vanished from his expressions. All that remained was an unpleasant ache in his chest and he suddenly stopped in his track.

Serena almost walked past him, only to turn on her heels and face him. Her eyes still carried uncertainty as she looked at him. The longer their stare continued, the lighter her legs felt but she did not even have the liberty to realise it. But the startling silence finally ended and the boy finally spoke.

"Look, you helped me out in the morning, and you saved me a great deal of trouble. A life, in fact, if you think about it. So, you have my thanks for that. But, you see, I'd rather be left alone right now. I want some space and your constant nagging isn't helping much. So, while I appreciate what you did, if you haven't gotten the hint already, let me spell it out for you—" The boy paused for a moment and breathed in, taking only a moment to observe as the girl tried to process what he had said, before adding, " Just leave me alone, lady."

* * *

 

 _"Leave me alone, lady."_  Gary Oak snickered, struggling to stifle his laugh. "Lady of all things? Really?"

"And whose fault do you think it is?" Ash argued.

"I mean, come on. I never told you to copy my words."

"Shut up."

Gary laughed again, this time with no restraints, as he walked next to Ash. The two walked in the open field, towards a structure—a laboratory—in front of them. When they arrived at the entrance, Gary had considerably calmed down. He took a deep breath and said, "But that... surprised me." When Ash gave him a puzzled look, his brows still furrowing with annoyance, Gary added, "Didn't think you could hold a conversation with anyone at all."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash mumbled, looking away. He entered the laboratory first while Gary followed him, closing the glass door behind them.

"So who was she?" he asked.

"I don't know...some girl I ran into earlier today." When Ash gave him an uncertain response, Gary blinked at him. "I don't know her, okay?"

"Yeah?" Gary walked to him as Ash fell behind on the couch, making himself comfortable. "You seemed rather intimate though."

"As if." Ash puffed out the air and took a deep breath. He leaned his head back and looked up at the ceiling of the room as Gary took a seat on the other end of the couch. Gary picked up a notepad from the table and a drink, scrolling through it while taking small sips. He scrolled through it and opened a bookmarked page, reading a note written on it and signed  _Samuel Oak_  at the bottom.

"A rather fine handwriting..." Gary mumbled to himself, only to be cut short by Ash.

"She helped me when I almost dropped the egg."

Gary chocked on his drink, coughing and struggling to breathe. Ash did not seem fazed at all, however, and kept his stare fixated on the roof. Gary stared back at Ash in pure disbelief and almost even screamed at him. "Are you out of your goddamn mind?" When Ash looked at him, he added, "What the hell were you thinking?"

"The egg is fine, don't worry about it. I managed to catch it before it could hit the ground... thanks to that girl," he finished in an uncertain tone, shifting in his place and glancing down at his lap.

"Doesn't change anything!" Gary screamed in disbelief and Ash snapped back into the reality. "And what's up with you? How can you be so casual about it?"

"I'm not being casual about it!" Ash yelled back, then grew silent. He looked away briefly, then back at Gary, and added in an uncertain voice, "Right?"

"You are nuts." Gary sighed to himself, quickly losing interest in the argument. He turned back to the notepad and took another sip from the drink. "Make sure to apologise to gramps later."

"Don't tell him about it," Ash said. "Please."

"That's your problem, man," Gary replied without looking at him.

"But... I didn't do it on purpose." That caught Gary's attention, his voice more so than his words. He looked back at Ash who seemed to struggle to sit straight at that point.

"What do you mean?" Gary asked.

"I don't know... My head just started hurting all of a sudden and before I knew I had tripped," Ash said. "By the time I came back, the egg was falling and—"

Ash paused suddenly, then fell into silence. His hand reached out to massage his shoulder and a look of discontent spread across his face. He closed his eyes, sighing to himself, and Gary observed a rather displeasing absence of Pikachu. He could only wonder what had happened that rendered even someone like Ash silent.

"What do you mean a headache?" Gary questioned but then paused. Ash observed and looked at Gary, giving him a puzzling look. "It's nothing, don't mind me." He waved his hand, then questioned Ash, "You feeling better now?"

Ash hummed in approval and Gary nodded, standing up. "Good because... I want you to run some errands for me."

"I'm sorry, I think I might be hearing things. Could you say it again?"

"You are free and I don't want to go alone." Ash gave him a blank stare, almost as if looking at a pile of trash. "You just wanna laze off for the rest of the day and ignore everything by pretending to sleep when gramps asks for something—change my mind."

"Fine, fine," Ash grumbled as he forced himself back on his feet. "And school barely ended an hour ago," he complained under his breath. "So what do you wanna do?"

"A lot of things," Gary said, placing one hand on his waist and extending another to the far side as if escorting a date. "But let's start with escorting this hotshot-womanizer for a professor from Kalos. Gramps has been expecting him and word is that he is bringing over something interesting."

"Womanizer?"

Gary shrugged his shoulder as he walked after Ash. "I don't know. I have only heard."

* * *

 

Grace rubbed her hand over Rhyhorn's head, feeling the hardened rocky plates covering his skin. The Spike Pokémon growled happily, a wide smile spreading across his face. Grace picked up the empty can of Pokémon food and finally retreated inside the house as the Rhyhorn began wandering in the small garden around his house.

Closing the door behind her, Grace walked towards the kitchen. She crushed the can and threw it into the trash bin, then reached out to an apron. She wore it tight and comfortably before heading towards the sink, and finally facing her daughter who did not seem to notice her at all.

"What's wrong?" Grace asked over the sound of water as she began washing dishes. "You have been quiet for a while now."

"It's nothing," Serena replied, her eyes fixated on the tablet. Her hands slowly scrolled down the article she was reading but her empty eyes suggested there was more to the story.

"Did you feel lonely in school? Are you missing your friends already?" Grace joked and Serena finally looked up at her.

"It's not that—okay, fine. I do miss them, but that's not the point. And I already made a friend in the school today," Serena replied and Grace glanced at her with a witty smile, urging her to continue. "Her name is Dawn. She is a super sweet girl."

Grace hummed. "Then what's bothering you so much? We both know those fashion magazines are not keeping you occupied at all."

Serena opened her mouth to speak, probably retort, as Grace was expecting, but the honey-haired girl fell silent right after that. Her eyes seemed blank and a thoughtful expression shrouded her features. Though Grace trusted her daughter, it also worried her to some extent.

"Okay, spill it already. What is it? Can I help you with it?"

"It's—" Serena bit her lips and looked to her side. She turned off the tablet, placed it next to her and sighed. "Do you remember Ash?"

Grace's hands froze when she heard a familiar name she hadn't heard in over the years. Her smile faded, her eyes became distant and an alarming silence grew in the room. Perhaps the sound of the tapwater was the only thing holding her into reality, but Grace did appear somewhat baffled.

"Yes," Grace finally admitted, speaking after a brief silence that she thought had lasted for minutes. "What about him?"

"I... ran into him today," Serena said. "We both did. Remember that boy who was carrying an egg in an incubator? He was with a Pikachu as well? That was him."

Grace glanced at Serena silently, her hands washing dishes still. Serena perhaps misunderstood the sign and laughed half-heartedly. "It really is a small word, isn't it?"

"It is," Grace agreed. "I don't get what's bothering you though."

Serena responded by grabbing a pillow and pressing it against her chest and wrapping her arms around it. She remained silent and looked at her mother expectantly as if she was hoping to get an explanation out of her instead.

"Okay, then let me guess." Grace paused, pretending to give it a thought. "You tried to talk to him but he doesn't remember you?"

Serena frowned, pulling the pillow closer to her. She said something, but her words muffled into the pillow. She averted her gaze when her mother laughed, muffling more into the pillow. "That was only a guess though. I didn't think it would be true."

"When have you been wrong before?"

"Glad you acknowledge me." With the final dish wiped clean, Grace turned off the tap and began undoing the apron. "But I get it. It must hurt a lot being ignored by the boy you looked up to so much." Serena once again looked at her mother, this time in puzzlement. Or at least, that's what she attempted to show. "What? Do you think I wasn't aware of your crush on him all those years ago?"

Serena opened her mouth to retort, but she couldn't bring herself to argue back, and as her mother's words finally sank in, she flushed red, finding herself speechless. Grace laughed at her silence.

"I'm your mother, sweetie. What do you expect to hide from me?" Grace folded the apron and put it to its place before making her way out of the kitchen. She adjusted her hairpin and then looked back at Serena. "So what happened then? Aren't you happy that you at least met him?"

"I mean... I kind of am." Serena stifled in her seat, then slouched back into the couch. "But he seems so different from how I remember him. It was as if, he has completely changed."

"It has been over ten years," Grace said.

"I know but..." Serena bit her lips, unable to continue.

"People change all the time, sweetie. Everyone does. Even you did. It really shouldn't surprise you if he changed as well," Grace explained. "But if you are feeling this discouraged, then maybe you had a lot of expectations from the very beginning...which might make for a really good dinner conversation tonight." Serena attempted to interrupt her mother but Grace managed to continue. "But enough of small details and conversations for later. There is something else that I want to know. So, here's the million-dollar question for you: have you moved on already or do you still crush on him just as hard as you did back in the day?"

"Mom!" Flushing beet red and feeling humiliated Serena screamed. When her mother laughed at her she stormed off the room. She heard her mother mumbling something about 'another inevitable victor' but she could care less about it over her daily dose of embarrassment.

Grace laughed to herself as she watched her daughter rush upstairs and disappeared. When she heard the door slam shut with a loud voice, she knew Serena wouldn't be coming back for at least a while. Worst case scenario, maybe until dinner. That worried her very little.

As her thoughts continued further in the direction, however, her smile begun fading as well. She took her phone and decided to make a call to ease herself. She dialled a number and placed the phone on her ear as she plummeted down on the couch behind her, exactly where Serena had been sitting not too long ago.

_"Yes, yes, get this over with as soon as you can. Find those files and then come see me—hey, honey."_

"Hey." Her lips curved into a small smile.

_"You sound tired."_

"Because I am," Grace said. "How much effort do you think it takes to move in and settle down within such a short time?"

 _"A lot, I guess."_  Her husband laughed.  _"So what's the occasion? You don't usually call me at this time of the day. Or well, you are not supposed to. It's past midnight here, you know?"_

"Yeah, sorry about that." Grace sighed. "But it's Serena."

 _"What happened to her? Did she not like the school? Got into the fight with someone? Did not make friends? Boy problems?"_  He paused for a moment, then added,  _"Is she feeling lonely without her daddy?"_

"You wish," Grace laughed. "She would kill you if she heard it."

_"Naw, she loves me too much to do that! I mean...right?"_

"Do you want to find out?"

He laughed, seemingly content but then allowed a brief silence between them to calm down.  _"So what happened in school today?"_

"Nothing much, I guess." Grace breathed in. "She said she made a friend. Her name is Dawn."

_"Not a boy?"_

"Not a boy," Grace confirmed.

 _"Ah, well."_  He sounded disappointed and Grace laughed quietly.

"Please keep your murderous intent in check. The last thing I want is for you to go around killing random boys because they associated with your baby girl." Grace heard him laughing on the other side. "Oh, and speaking of boys—"

 _"So there_ is _a boy!"_

Grace did not respond, nor did she smile to herself. Her eyes closed as she leaned her head back on the couch. It took her longer than she had expected but after gathering herself, she finally managed to say it, however, in a voice much heavier than she wanted to.

"She met Ash today."


End file.
